Commentary
Tensions between the United States and China have been high since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei in August. The Chinese regime’s response was to conduct several days of live fire drills off of the island’s shores. The signing of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) has evoked a similarly threatening response from Beijing with 24 hours of military sorties.
“China deplores and firmly opposes this U.S. move and has made serious démarches to the U.S.,” reads a Dec. 24 statement by China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to the NDAA signed into law by President Joe Biden on Dec. 23.
While the rest of the world was celebrating Christmas, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) air force planes challenged Taiwanese airspace in record numbers. Between 6 a.m. on Dec. 25 and 6 a.m. on Dec. 26, 71 PLA aircraft buzzed Taiwan’s air defense systems, causing Taiwan’s land, sea, and air forces to stand at the ready. The senior colonel of the PLA’s Eastern Theater Command called the exercises a joint combat readiness patrol and fire strike drill, which he said was “a firm response to the current U.S.-Taiwan escalation and provocation.”
In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has increased its intimidation of Taiwan with PLA ships and planes. In his opening speech at the Communist Party’s 20th National Congress in October, CCP leader Xi Jinping stated clearly that China would use force, if necessary, to take Taiwan.
The $858 billion NDAA contains provisions for $10 billion in military aid to Taiwan. It also provides approximately $11.5 billion to the Pacific Deterrence Initiative (PDI), which is focused on strengthening Indo-Pacific deterrence against “the multi-domain threat posed by China.” The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA)—which provides weapons, materials, and training and services to allies promoting international military-to-military cooperation—will receive $198.5 million.
The DSCA is a crucial element in coordinating international opposition to China. At a DSCA conference in 2020, the secretary of defense announced the creation of the Defense Policy office on China and the China Strategy Management Group, whose 2022 report helped shape U.S.-China defense-related policy and funding now used for the current National Defense Authorization Act.
Apart from strengthening Taiwan, the NDAA will make the world’s most formidable military even more powerful. The NDAA sets U.S. troop levels at 452,000 for the Army, 354,000 for the Navy, 325,344 for the Air Force, 177,000 for the Marine Corps, and 8,600 for the Space Force.
The Navy will receive $32.6 billion to build 11 new battle force ships, including three destroyers, two Virginia-class submarines, two expeditionary fast transports, one frigate, and one San Antonio-class amphibious ship. The Air Force will receive eight F-18E/F aircraft, 16 F-35C aircraft, 15 F-35B jets, and 12 CH-53K helicopters. However, it is officially unclear whether or not these assets will be used in the defense of Taiwan.
The U.S. position on Taiwan is one of strategic ambiguity, but Washington does not take a position on whether or not Taiwan belongs to China. The official U.S. stance is that the matter must be settled peacefully between Taiwan and China. To ensure that Taiwan is not gobbled up by the Chinese regime just across the Taiwan Strait, the United States is contractually bound to provide Taiwan with weapons of a defensive nature.
During the Trump administration and now under Biden, the relationship is becoming less and less ambiguous. The Taiwan Policy Act of 2022 deepened U.S.-Taiwan relations and expanded the amount of military support the United States will provide. Several times over the past two years, most recently in September, Biden has publicly stated that the United States would fight for Taiwan. Each time, the White House has walked back the president’s comments. But Beijing and some China analysts are beginning to believe that the president’s statements could indicate that America would fight if Taiwan were invaded.
Beijing considers the Taiwan issue a purely internal affair and continually threatens Washington for “meddling.“ The CCP claims the U.S. defense spending act contains elements that violate the agreed-upon ”One China” policy and sends “a gravely wrong signal to ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces.”
The CCP’s defense spending is expected to increase in 2023. The United States has increased its defense spending and the number of arms it will provide to Taiwan. So the status for the moment is that Beijing is angry, and everyone is heavily armed.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
